Great Park balloon: Your advertisement here?

It's hard to miss the 100-foot-tall, 72-foot-wide orange helium balloon rising above I-5 a few days each week. That visibility has Great Park staff wondering if it can sell the space for advertising.

It's one of a host of ideas the Great Park's staff has brainstormed behind the scenes to cover the cost of operating and maintaining the balloon and carousel rides and, perhaps ultimately, offer free rides again.

How to sell balloon sponsorships and what to potentially charge are entirely conceptual ideas so far floated in two brief emails sent in July from the park's development officer, Chris Baiocchi, to Great Park CEO Mike Ellzey, and the park's deputy CEO, operations manager and spokesman.

The emails, dated July 10 and July 17, were obtained by the Orange County Register in a routine public records request of a month's worth of emails sent to and from the park's CEO, and amounted to several pages in more than 3,000 pages worth of emails.

None of the sponsorship concepts have been talked about publicly or discussed with Irvine City Council members, who also make up the Great Park board.

In April, a ride in the balloon went from free to $5 for children and $10 for adults. Visitors wanting a carousel ride started ponying up $2 each.

The new fees were a result of a 3-2 City Council vote that directed the funds to cover costs of the U.S. Solar Decathlon, which was held in October. Critics said the decathlon was being used as an excuse to start charging for the rides. Not surprisingly, the number of riders on the balloon and carousel has declined since the park started charging a fee.

In one email, Baiocchi pondered a list of potential advertisers whose logos might already involve a bright orange background “with a large recognizable logo or companies with iconography related to the balloon,” such as AT&T and Discover credit card.

Wrapping the balloon in a new envelope with a corporate logo would cost a sponsor $700,000 – the most expensive option and a complex undertaking – but it would no doubt offer the most visibility as it rose above I-5.

“Helium scarcity could make it difficult to estimate the cost and complexity of this option,” wrote Baiocchi in the one-page memo.

Featuring ads on the balloon itself also may face resistance.

“I'd have a real problem with that,” said Councilman Larry Agran, who wasn't aware of the sponsorship research being done by Great Park staff. “It's the Great Park balloon. It's not the AT&T balloon,” he said, mentioning a few other brand names.

Jeff Lalloway, Great Park board chairman and mayor pro tem, was also unaware of the proposals but commended the park's staff for the creative thinking.

“I'm open to different ideas,” he said, adding that he'd have to know more about what the sponsorships would entail before considering it. “At least they're trying to come up with ideas.”

Baiocchi's July 10 email also contemplated smaller sponsorships that would cover free rides for certain groups (children taking rides on Saturdays or in the evening, for example).

“A large enough sponsorship of the balloon will allow the city to offer free rides to all park guests – which is also an opportunity to thank the sponsor for their gift and acknowledge their generosity in the community,” according to the one-page email memo.

It's not the first time the Great Park has considered attaching advertisements to the balloon. In mid-2007, just before the balloon took its first tethered flight, the Great Park's board pondered how it could cover the costs to operate the balloon and keep rides free through the end of that year.

At the time, Ken Smith – the park's master designer – said it would be akin to defacing popular icons and advised against it. “It would be like putting an ad on the Eiffel Tower, the Washington Monument or the St. Louis Arch.”

Great Park staff had more recently worked up a proposal to take to FivePoint Communities, the home developer north of the Great Park, but never sent it.

In a July 17 email, Great Park staff suggested charging FivePoint $225,000 for a one-year sponsorship agreement. In return, the developer would be acknowledged for making balloon and carousel rides available for free to the public. The company's logo also would be wrapped around the gondola carriage and on signage near the balloon, carousel and visitors center.

Marcus Ginnaty, a Great Park spokesman, described any discussion of balloon and carousel sponsorships as internal and said the City Council would have to provide any approval to move forward. He said no one has been approached to sponsor the two attractions.

The price arrived at in the proposals was based on the estimated annual revenue generated from balloon and carousel operations for 48 weeks in a year.

Between April 4 and July 14, the balloon and carousel rides generated $71,000 in ticket fees for the park, according to the emails.